Temperament (nature v. nuture)

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Phebe*DD

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How much of an individual dog's temperament can be attributed to genetics and how much to environment and socialization?

I think that it's about 50-50. It seems to me that it's possible for a dog to either gain confidence and resiliency or increase skittishness and fear depending on whether they are appropriately socialized -- especially from about 5-6 weeks to 9 months of age. I'm interested to hear what breeders and other Sheltie-folk think about this.
 
I do worry about my dog sometimes. She is only dog in the house and she tries to jump or Run really hard at any dog she sees outside. I think this is due to Lack of having other dogs or lack of socialization. Once she meet the other dog, she is fine but it is the way she runs at them and i am afraid other dog may misinterpret it.
 
I agree. I am no expert, but I would have to say it's 50/50, but that it is our responsibility to nurture the nature.

Thinks about all the postitive traits our shelties have by nature and how we will work with those traits and play towards them by nuturing them along, e.g., herding and agility.

What we often forget is that the negative traits (shyness, barking) our pups have by nature have to be nurtured into what is best for the pupper and what we desire as their protector and/or "parent."

It is just easier for us to nurture the positive and say it is the pup's nature in the negative.

I say 50/50: Know the Nature. Make them the best dog they can be by nurturing.

I will be interested to read all the threads by the rest of the forum.
 
ronjantetrault said:
I agree. I am no expert, but I would have to say it's 50/50, but that it is our responsibility to nurture the nature.

Thinks about all the postitive traits our shelties have by nature and how we will work with those traits and play towards them by nuturing them along, e.g., herding and agility.

What we often forget is that the negative traits (shyness, barking) our pups have by nature have to be nurtured into what is best for the pupper and what we desire as their protector and/or "parent."

It is just easier for us to nurture the positive and say it is the pup's nature in the negative.

I say 50/50: Know the Nature. Make them the best dog they can be by nurturing.

I will be interested to read all the threads by the rest of the forum.
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I think you've said it perfectly! And frankly, its the same arguement for people too! (I took an entire course at College on EXACTLY that topic!).
 
FedAce said:
I do worry about my dog sometimes. She is only dog in the house and she tries to jump or Run really hard at any dog she sees outside. I think this is due to Lack of having other dogs or lack of socialization. Once she meet the other dog, she is fine but it is the way she runs at them and i am afraid other dog may misinterpret it.
Click to expand...

Our Baron misbehaves at the window quite often now, and he has been extremely socialized. My humble opinion is that some of it is just the individual furchild. He didn't start off this way, but once "matured," this seems to be his "thing" and there's nothing we have tried that works to detour it. He's harmless, but he doesn't come off that way at all! ;-)
 
Well, I haven't read about this much in particular, but I think it's mostly--or at least half--nurture. Just about any dog can make a good pet if it's raised correctly.
It's at least 50/50. But in my personal opinion, I think it's probably closer to 76(nurture)/34(nature).
 
Interesting topic. They did a study in cats. Bred friendly cat to friendly cats and got friendly cats, Bred nervous cats to nervous cats and got nervous cats. The kittens were hand raised to take away influence of the mother. So genetics definately plays a role in temperments.

Dogs can be much more influenced by their environment than cats. Each is important in shaping the dog they grow into. A good trainer/owner can make any dog better and a poor trainer/owner any dog worse.

I been around many litters from birth mostly shelties and Rotts and you can tell which dogs are more touch sensitive from birth also they squeak more when handled. They are just handle those more and they almost always become less reactive like their other littermates. Same with sight and sound sensitivities, tons of exposure to noise tapes, different surfaces and almost all puppies can handle them, but some are better then others, by the time they go to their new homes it just up to the new owners to continue the work:smile2:For pups from breeders who don't environmentally enrich their pups I think you'll see a greater variety of reactions and the owner will need to work harder with the less confident ones. Conversely a person can get a pup who has a great outgoing personality, isolate it, treat it harshly or reinforce behavior improperly and end up with a basketcase.

But the individual temperment is always there in how they react to stress, corrections and the unfamiliar and how they relate to other people/dogs(do they want to lead or follow).This is why some dogs make better obedience dogs. They are naturely more resilent. You can't teach that. But you can teach a dog to quit or to try harder.
 
Some researchers did some tests on foxes (I think it was foxes) and found that they could breed out 'aggression' (by selecting only those that were friendlier for breeding) which also resulted in neoteny (and coat colour changes). The end result of these tests was that the last generation of foxes behaved much like dogs with the licking, friendly, tail wagging type of behaviours, very different from the first group of foxes they bred with (either fearful of humans or showing aggression towards them).

Then another group of researchers worked on coming up with the optimum amount of 'socialization' (and handling) that pups would need to be smart and sociable and have basically bomb proof temperaments. This resulted in the Superdog program. Pups that went through the final program came out with great temperaments, better health, etc. However, I can't remember why, but the research stopped and these "super dogs" were kept in kennels and neglected for months. All the benefits they had from the superdog program went down the drain coz when these dogs were rehomed they were fearful/aggressive and had terrible temperaments, as if they never had any socialisation at all.

So I gather that while nature has a part to play in providing a good foundation to start off with, we have to work at socialising our dogs to different people, dogs, sights, sounds, smells, situations, etc to improve their temperaments and maintain them for the rest of their lives.
 
I cant remember where I read it, but the study said that temperament was 30% nature and 70% nurture.

all I know is if you are going to breed you should start with the best temperament possible then do what Janet does with her pups! :biggrin2:
 
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